Countdown to Freedom
by SilverGato
Summary: Chapter 14 up! The epilogue is now up!
1. The Attack

Author's Note: This is my first Resident Evil fic! It's told from Steve's POV. It'll be a little different from the original game plot (of course).  
  
When I woke up, I discovered that my cell had been completely destroyed. I was half-buried in rubble, and the mangled bodies of guards and prisoners were scattered everywhere. My head was throbbing from the explosion. Where had that explosion come from? Was there some sort of attack?  
  
I didn't have time to figure it out, the explosion had given me an opportunity to escape this crazy place. I brushed off the debris and climbed over the mess. I noticed the bodies of my captors. What on earth happened to them? It looked like something had been eating them...  
  
I shuddered. I needed to leave. Now. I started to head towards the stairs. Maybe I should look for a map or something...  
  
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a low groaning. I wondered if it was one of the prisoners.   
  
"Is someone there?" I called out. There was no answer, just a soft shuffling sound. There was another moan. I began walking towards the source of the sounds. Maybe someone had survived the attack.   
  
"Hello?" an injured man stumbled out. It was hard to see him in the dark, but I was thankful that it was one of the prisoners. I didn't want any of the guards to find me down here. I quickly rushed over to him.  
  
"Hey. Hold on, I'll help you get out of here," I said to him. He stumbled forward and fell toward me.   
  
He's really hurt, I thought. I crouched near him to help him up. His hand clamped down on my foot as he tried to pull himself toward me. I let out a gasp as I got a clear view of his hand. It was shriveled and gray, chunks of flesh were missing from it...  
  
The man, or what had been a man, was now trying to clamp his jaw onto my shoe. Disgusted, I kicked him. It hadn't been a very hard kick, yet the man dropped to the ground. A large piece of his scalp fell off, revealing bone and muscle.  
  
Oh gross! What was that guy? He looked like...like a...  
Zombie?  
Okay that does it. It's time to get out of here. I'll get out of this crazy place and get to an airport and escape...  
  
I turned away from the zombie and ran, hoping that would be the last zombie I'd see. 


	2. T Virus Notes

Note: I'm really sorry! This was supposed to come out much sooner, but my week has been really busy. Also, when you finish reading this chapter you might think, "What the heck is she doing..." but this chapter is important for what's going to happen later on ^_~ Sorry if I mess up some of the information on the T-Virus, I'm still kind of new at Resident Evil...The T-Virus notes are somewhat based off the Keeper's Diary. Claire will be in the next chapter, so stay tuned! (Also, if anyone can help me with these stupid italic tags, I would greatly appreciate it...)  
  
I didn't see any more guards when I escaped the prison area. Well, I didn't see them alive at least. There were a lot more bodies scattered about when I stepped out of the prison. It seemed that the attack was more serious then I thought, but how did this all happened?  
  
There was another moan, just like before. Another zombie shuffled out. This time he had brought some friends. Two other zombies, both in the same shape as the first one. Some of their flesh was missing, revealing bone and sinew...  
  
"Urraagh..."  
  
One of them grabbed my shoulders. It leaned down to take a bite out of my neck. I wrestled it off easily before it could bite me and it fell to the ground. The other two were closing in on me. If I didn't move it, I'd be zombie food.   
  
I jumped over the first zombie before it could get back on its feet and ran towards the second one. It reached out to grab me, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I quickly moved out of its way as it lunged at me. It missed me and stood there in confusion. I grinned triumphantly. If this was the only threat on the island, then I had nothing to worry about. My sudden arrogance faded when the third zombie grabbed me from behind. I let out a cry of surprise and struggled to get it off. Desperate, I placed one hand under its chin, and the other behind its neck. With one swift motion, it's frail neck snapped and the zombie collapsed to the ground. I turned to look at what I had just done.  
  
The zombie was lying motionless on the ground. It's neck was twisted in an unnatural manner. I really didn't feel sorry for it. I could tell that it was once an Umbrella employee. Another jerk who worked for that psycho company.  
  
I heard the other two zombies moaning. I didn't have time to sit there and loathe Umbrella. I quickly ran for the doors in hopes of finding some kind of weapon.  
  
When I entered the building, I was greeted by complete silence. You know, like in those horror movies. Just when you think there's no one around, something pops up to rip you to shreds. I quickly began exploring the rooms. I wasn't going to make it very far without something to defend myself with.  
  
What I found inside the building wasn't really all that great. So far, all I had found that was useful was a green herb. As I walked towards the stairs, I recognized the corpse of one of the researchers on the island. He used to come in and select a few prisoners to come for some "testing". Those prisoners never came back...  
  
I saw a piece of folded paper sticking out of his pocket. Curiosity got the better of me and I cautiously picked it up. Fortunately, he didn't move. I opened the paper and began to read it.  
  
Dr. Thomas:  
  
Our research with the T-Virus is going very well. I have learned quite a lot about the T-Virus. We have injected the T-Virus into some of the prisoners on the island. The results were...interesting. While very few were resistant to the T-Virus, the ones that were infected seemed to mutate. We've noticed some "stages" that the infected prisoners experience. Here's what we've learned so far:  
  
Stage 1: The victim starts feeling a slight skin irritation.   
Stage 2: Irritation increases and the victim becomes slightly more aggressive. Swelling sometimes occurs.  
Stage 3: The victim begins to have difficulty doing simple things. They may have trouble walking or slurring when they talk. Wounds begin to appear on the victim's body. The victim may pass out from time to time.  
Stage 4: The victim suffers from a high fever. Skin irritation is greatly increased. Wounds will open up and the blood fails to clot.   
Stage 5: The victim will almost lose all senses. Rotten flesh begins to fall off the victim's body. The victim becomes intensely hunger. Even to the point where it would eat anything in sight.  
  
We've had to kill all the infected victims that enter Stage 4. It seems the T-Virus is impossible to cure after it enters Stage 4. There is an antidote to the T-Virus, but I think it's currently at the Antarctic Base. I think they will be sending some here soon. Anyway, it takes about 1-4 days for the victim to experience the final stages of the T-Virus, depending on the victim's immune system. I need to be careful though, just a bite or scratch from these victims could be enough to infect me...  
  
I crumpled up the paper. I didn't want to read anymore. I knew now that the zombies I had encountered had suffered through those "stages" the doctor was talking about. I stuffed the note into my pocket. I had to be a bit more careful if I didn't want to turn into one of these monsters. I glanced back at the researcher. His face seemed to be twisted into a look of terror.  
"Rest in peace, Doc," I thought bitterly. I quickly headed up the steps to search for a weapon. 


	3. Enter Claire Redfield

Author's Notes: Sorry 'bout the delay. I finally beat Code Veronica! ^_^V Anyway, this chapter has Claire in it, for all you Claire fans. I'd like to hear your opinions and thoughts on what this story needs. Action scenes are pretty hard to write in first person...Anywho, an important plot point will be coming up in the next chapters, so stay tuned!   
  
Machine guns were great. Really great. Sure, it secured into the ground, but beggars can't be choosers...  
I sighed. I was pathetic. My great "discovery" was a machine gun that I couldn't take with me. I had walked to the top of the stairs to find a weapon, and this is all I had found. Well, that and the airport keys I was trying to find. I was definitely happy about that. I decided to have a bit of fun and spotted some zombies roaming around below me.  
"Say goodbye, zombies," I said cheerfully. I shot them down easily. They let out one last moan before falling to the ground. I felt a little better after that, and a little guilty that I had been so cheerful about it.   
Well, they had once been alive...  
I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I frowned. I thought I had gotten rid of all the zombies. I fired at whatever it was below me. To my surprise, it quickly darted across the yard.  
Can zombies run like that?!  
I hadn't really been afraid before, but I was now. I didn't get a good look at whatever monster was wandering around, but if it could move like that, then I was in for some trouble. I stopped firing, hoping I had scared it off. I heard a gunshot break the light that was lighting the yard for me. I quickly dropped to the ground to avoid being shot. I didn't want to die after being so close to escaping. The gunshots stopped, and I scrambled to my feet.  
"W-wait! Don't shoot!" I yelled.   
"Who are you?" a female voiced asked. I finally got a clear look at what I had been shooting at. A young girl dressed in a red shirt and jeans was hiding a wrecked truck.  
"Hey, you're not a zombie," I blurted out, and felt embarrassed afterwards. Of course she wasn't a zombie. Before she could say anything I quickly added, "that's great! Wait there, I'll be right over!" I couldn't believe there were more survivors, and she didn't look like she was from Umbrella. She was probably one of the newer prisoners. I leaped down and landed on my feet, I was too excited about finding a survivor to bother with the stairs. She crawled out from behind the truck as I approached her.  
"Uh, sorry about that little misunderstanding. I thought you were one of those mon-" She immediately interrupted me by shoving a handgun into my face.   
"Shut up! Make one wrong move and I'll shoot!" she threatened. I frowned, probably the only survivor left on the island was threatening to shoot me? I guess I could understand her being angry, but I didn't know there were anymore survivors left.  
So much for first impressions...  
"Relax beautiful, I said I was sorry," I said to her, "my name's Steve. I was a prisoner on this island," I studied her for a moment, "and I'm guessing you're not from Umbrella either..."   
"No. I'm Claire. Claire Redfield," she said. I felt relieved. Even though it made me wonder what she had done to end up here, I was glad she wasn't from Umbrella.  
"Claire...nice...I'll remember that," I said. Even though I wanted to stay and find out more about this Claire Redfield, I realized I needed to get to that airport, and she was keeping me from getting there. I decided to fill her in about the airport before I left, it wouldn't be fair if she ran around without any idea of how to get out of here.   
"Hey! I heard there's an airport around here. Once I find it, I'll finally be able to escape from this crazy island," I told her, "Well, see ya!" I ran towards the prison gates, silently wishing Claire luck.  
"Hey wait!" she called, I heard her footsteps behind me. Did she think that was some sort of invitation for her to follow me around? She'd only get me in trouble...  
I turned to her and shook my finger at her.  
"I don't want you following me! You'd only slow me down," I said. I didn't bother waiting for an answer. I took off away from her. I didn't want her following me, I didn't even know if I could trust her.   
Once I entered in the prison area. I heard the shuffling of feet and a low groan. I sighed to myself. I really, really wanted a weapon for this. A zombie in a prisoner's garb was shuffling around, paying no attention to me. However, I needed to get through him.  
I ran towards it and slammed my foot into it's stomach. The rotting, walking corpse fell against the wall. Of course it didn't stay down, it slowly climbed back onto its feet and lunged toward me. I spun around and kicked it in the head. It fell onto the ground, and began crawling towards me. It's decaying hand clamped onto my boot and it began to pull itself forward for a bite. I slammed my foot into its head before it could bite me. I heard the sickening crack of its skull being smashed open. I felt sick, and I had force myself not to look down. I heard a couple howls that didn't sound too far away. I ran as fast as I could, hoping that I'd be able to find a weapon fast. This whole hand-to-hand combat wasn't really my style... 


	4. Anger

Author's Note: This end of the chapter is what triggers the plot I had in mind. Try to figure out what it is. ^_^ Anyway, thanks for the reviews!  
  
I was lucky enough to escape some of the zombies that were outside the guillotine room. I swear that place gives me chills no matter how many times I've seen it before. Only this time it seemed much worse then before. There was a lot of blood stained on the walls and ground, and it almost completely covered the guillotine. I entered a nearby building and began walking through the corridor. I stepped up to the security box and it automatically opened.  
  
"Please place all metallic items into the security box," the only metallic thing I had with me were the airport keys I found.   
  
"Screw you," I told it and then walked past it. I heard an annoying ringing and the shutters immediately closed. I muttered something under my breath and quickly went to turn it off. I flicked the switch and the shutters rose. It looked like I wasn't going anywhere until I deposited the keys.   
  
"Fine, fine, at least they'll be safe," I muttered, placing the keys into the security box. I walked past without anymore problems. I heard shuffling from somewhere and spun around, expecting a zombie to stumble out and try to eat me. I relaxed slightly when I noticed that they were in another room. I was tempted to taunt them through the window, but I really didn't want to push my luck. I headed into the next room, which was full of stuff that I couldn't use. How wonderful.   
  
The next room was a computer room. I found a green herb lying there, and took it with me. I noticed that one of the computers were already on. Curious, I sat down and began looking through the files. There was a list that caught my interest. It was apparently Umbrella's "naughty" list. The people who had caused problems for Umbrella. I frowned when I saw my father's name on the list. Did he survive the attack like I did? Even though he was a stupid fool, I didn't want to see him roaming around as a zombie...  
  
I shuddered and began searching through the names. There was a name that grabbed my attention. Chris Redfield. That girl I met before, Claire, said her name was Redfield. Were they related? I clicked on the name and another file popped up. As I read on, I realized how cool this guy was. He was one of the former S.T.A.R.S. members, and pain for Umbrella to kill off. I was about to check out more information on him, when I heard footsteps behind me.   
  
"What are you doing?" someone asked. I jumped, but relaxed when I saw it was Claire. I turned to her, now was my chance to find out about Chris Redfield.   
  
"Is Chris Redfield a relative of yours?" I asked.  
  
"You mean my brother?" she asked. Whoa, they were siblings? This was getting interesting.   
  
"Ah, so you're siblings!" I motioned at the computer, "it seems your brother is under surveillance by Umbrella," I said.   
  
"What?" she quickly dashed over to the computer and looked at the information I pulled up, "I've got to contact Leon and tell him to let my brother know that he's being monitored. It's a good thing I have access to an outside connection from here!"   
  
I shrugged. I didn't really care.   
  
"That file shows the latitude and longitude of this place," I told her, then grinned, "why don't you send him the coordinates for this place so he can come by and pick you up?" I said sarcastically. I expected to hear her grunt in irritation, but I didn't get that reaction.   
  
"Thanks. I'll do that," she said, not even facing me. I wanted to smack my forehead. Just how naive was this girl?  
  
"Hey! I was just kidding," I snapped in irritation. It was bad enough that I had to fight through all these monsters, but now I had to deal with some newbie prisoner who thinks that people will just jump up and save her when she's in trouble.  
  
"There's no way he'll get here, even if he is your brother!" I told her. It was the truth too, you just can't depend on other people. I had learned this the hard way. However, Claire just gave me a determined look.   
  
"He will come, I'm sure of it!" she argued. I felt anger boiling inside of me. I couldn't decide if she was naive or just stupid. She had no idea of what it felt like to be abandoned or betrayed like I had. She was just too trusting, and she was going to suffer because of it.   
  
"No way! He won't come! You'll only be disappointed if you rely on others! Believe me, I know!" I stopped to look her in the eyes. She was staring at me as if I was some sort of raving lunatic. I couldn't stand looking her anymore. I quickly turned around and stormed out. Screw her, let her get eaten.  
  
I snatched the keys out of the security box, and made my way to the airport. As soon as I stepped out, I saw that all three of the zombies I saw earlier were dead. I felt a bit relieved that I didn't have to fight them now, although it might have taken off some stress. I didn't know why I felt so angry at her. Who cares if she trusts other people or not? I'm not the one to blame if she gets hurt...  
  
"Maybe you're just jealous," my mind said. I frowned at the thought. I never thought about it before, but something about that determined look made me feel...jealous. I wanted that determined look...I wanted to say that someone would come help me too...  
  
I shook my head. It was a stupid thought. I don't need anyone's help. I knew I couldn't get to the airport through the main courtyard, I needed an emblem to do that and I had no idea where the emblem was. However, I did know of a more longer route to take. I just hoped that there weren't too many monsters waiting for me there.  
  
The alternate route wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. Any zombie that was around couldn't catch me in time. The only thing that had surprised me were those creepy zombie dogs. I escaped them, but that was way to close. I shuddered while remembering its snapping jaws barely missing my neck.   
  
I realized that I was pretty close to the palace. That was the place where the people who ran the prison hung out, the Ashford family. From the stories I heard while I was in prison, they weren't the type of people you'd want to meet in general. The airport was pretty close to the palace, so maybe I'd stop by there and look for a weapon. Maybe I'd even meet the Ashfords themselves. I walked into the palace area, and found it eerily silent. I had a bad feeling about hanging around here. I quickly walked towards the palace. As I reached the stairs, I heard a growl. Three of them.  
  
Oh God, no...  
  
Three zombie dogs had me cornered. I hadn't been careful enough to listen for them. I turned to run, but I was already too late. I felt one of them jump on me, knocking me to the ground. I struggled against them, and I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I let out a cry as the three dogs bit at me, tearing away at my shoulders, legs, whatever they could sink their teeth into. If I didn't get up, I was going to die. I manage to push the dogs off and I stumbled to my feet. I clutched my bleeding shoulder and ran toward the doors, dodging left and right to escape them. I grab the handle of the door and ripped it open, I tumbled inside, slamming the door behind me.   
  
I slumped against the door, blood was trickling from the places they had bit me. They had bitten deep into my shoulder though. I leaned my head back against the door, worn out from the fight.  
  
"Damn it..." my eyes closed and I felt myself drifting to sleep. 


	5. The Gold Luger Room

Author's Note: I'm on a roll. I'll try to keep these updates coming. This chapter will be a bit longer than usual...and I changed the dialogue from the scenes. Doing it exactly how it is in the game got boring really fast. Oh! And if someone could tell me how to use italics on ff.net, I'd appreciate it. The tags don't seem to work...   
  
I didn't know how long I had been unconscious. When I woke up, I felt horrible. I suppose you wouldn't feel too good right after you've almost been eaten. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a green herb.  
  
"Good thing I found this," I muttered. I pounded it into dust so I could swallow it. After gulping it down, I waited until I felt strong enough to get back up. As soon as I got up I checked my injures. There were minor bites on my legs, one on my arm, but the worst one was my shoulder. They really tore it up. Stupid T-Virus monsters...  
  
I paused, remembering the note I had found. I grabbed it and looked at it.   
  
Just a bite or scratch from these victims could be enough to infect me...  
  
I felt worried. Did that mean I was infected? I had been bitten quite a few times. I then laughed at myself. I must be paranoid. It wasn't certain that I was infected with T-Virus, it just couldn't happen to someone like me...  
  
...Could it?  
  
I decided that now wasn't the time to worry about it, I'd start worrying when the symptoms appeared. So far I wasn't itching anywhere. I looked around the huge palace. There were paintings everywhere, everything was beautifully decorated. It was the nicest thing I had seen since I was taken from home and thrown into that miserable, gloomy jail cell. It seemed to have been abandoned. Time to explore!  
  
I looked around and picked a random door. Maybe I'd get lucky. When I walked towards my door of choice, I heard the palace entrance doors open. I panicked, and hid myself behind the desk. I had no idea if what was coming through that door was going to be friendly or not.   
  
"Wow, this place is huge," I heard someone say. Claire!  
  
I watched her carefully examine the room, making sure that there wasn't anything waiting for her. I didn't really want to show myself now, so I stayed hidden. She climbed the staircase, and headed into the room on the right. I sighed to myself. I'd probably run into her eventually, but not now, not after what happened in the computer room.   
  
I got to my feet and headed towards the door. As soon as I walked in, I heard three or four zombies. I cursed my bad luck and zigzagged past three of them. I didn't notice the fourth zombie until he reached out and grabbed me.  
  
"Back off!" I snarled. I then pried its rotten fingers off my shoulder and delivered a strong kick in its gut. It groaned and fell down. Before it could get up, I quickly ran into another room.   
  
The room was pretty strange, it seemed like the Ashford family had a thing for insects, because that's what I saw a lot of. I walked around the room, searching every nook and cranny for something useful. I noticed a switch and curiously flipped it. The room darkened and I saw a film being shown. A film of a young boy and girl who looked like twins. I watched with disgust as they tore off the wings of a helpless dragonfly. They were both smiling at one another. They then placed the dragonfly into a nest of ants, where it was slowly being stung to death. When the movie ended, I felt a little freaked out. The stories of the Ashfords were true! These guys really were wacko. I noticed the display case had moved, revealing another room. I stepped inside to find out what was hidden within it.  
  
What I found inside almost made me dance with joy. Two guns were placed in the wall, waiting for someone to take them. Not only had I found a weapon, but they were cool-looking too! I walked up to them and reached for them. They came out very easily, and a grin appeared on my face. The grin quickly faded when I heard the display case slam close, trapping me inside. I quickly ran over and struggled against it. It was no good, it wouldn't budge. It was then I noticed how hot it was getting, and it seemed to be getting more hotter as time passed. It was like I was in an oven.   
  
...An oven?!  
  
I began to realize with horror at what I had done. I had triggered some kind of heat trap, and I was going to be cooked alive if I didn't escape. The problem was that I didn't know how to escape. I furiously began pounding at the display case, hoping that by some miracle it would open. Sweat was dripping down my face, it was getting really hot...  
  
I remembered that Claire was somewhere inside this palace too. Even though I didn't like it, I needed her help. If she could hear me, maybe she'd be able to get the display case to move.   
  
"Hey! Help me!" I screamed as loud as I could. I continued to pound on the display case, I felt a little dizzy.  
  
"Help me! Help!" I screamed again, it felt like I was in there for hours. I didn't know how much time had passed, but it was getting way too hot. I felt like my skin was burning. I began to despair, Claire wouldn't be able to hear me...  
  
"Steve?!" Claire's voice! I never had been so happy to hear it.  
  
"Claire, help! I'm burning in here!" I called out. She said something else, but I couldn't hear it. I felt really dizzy from the heat. I gave up pounding on the display case and just leaned against it. I had finally found a weapon and this is what happened to me...  
  
I felt the display case slide away from me and I tumbled out, falling flat onto the ground.  
  
"Steve?" Claire sounded nervous. I didn't feel like moving. I had almost died in there because of my own foolishness. I felt so pathetic and ashamed. I felt her hand press against my neck, checking my pulse.  
  
"I'm not dead," I muttered, my voice muffled by the floor. I saw her jump, but then she held out her hand to help me up. I ignored it and slowly rose to my feet. I felt horrible, but I was glad I came out alive.   
  
"A-are you okay?" she asked. I nodded.   
  
"Yeah, that was close...uh...," Claire was staring at the bite marks. Before she could say anything, I quickly said, "I was attacked by some dogs outside. It's nothing serious." I hope.  
  
I remembered the guns I was holding, and showed them to her.   
  
"Hey, look what I found! Err...thanks to you!" I said. Claire's eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh! I need those!" she said, holding out her hand, "give those to me."   
  
I wanted to scoff at her. I had been running around this entire island with nothing to protect myself with, I had nearly died trying to get a weapon, and now she thinks I'll give these up so I can do that all over again? No thanks.  
  
"No way, I found them and I'm keeping them," I told her. However, she did save my life. An almost total stranger had saved me when they could have just left me to die. I guess I should be a little more fair.  
  
"Fine...let's make a deal, I'll trade you for something fully automatic," I said. She looked like she was considering it, but by the way she looked when I offered her the deal I knew she didn't have anything with her. I wasn't planning on waiting. Find me something cooler than the gold lugers and you can have them.   
  
"See you around, Claire! Adios!" I turned around and ran.  
  
"Hey wait! Steve!" I heard her say. However, I didn't have time to bargain with her. I left her in the room and quickly made my way to the palace exit. The first thing I'd do is get revenge on those dogs for biting me, then I'd go to the airport. I felt a slight pain in my shoulder, and realized that I had been subconsciously itching it. I pulled away my hand and my eyes widen when I saw my fingers were covered in blood. 


	6. Infected

Author's Note: Hiya! I'm sure you know by now that this story is not going to follow the plot exactly the way it is in the game. I'll try to keep as close as I can, though. Hopefully you've enjoyed the extra scenes. To make up for this chapter, I've added a little something to the end (Hopefully, I've portrayed his personality correctly...)   
  
Blood.   
  
I had been itching at the wound. A feeling of dread passed over me. The first stage was itching. My shoulder still itched too...  
  
I tried to stay calm, but it was hard too. I couldn't keep the thought out of my mind. I might end up turning into a zombie, just like the ones I had fought off before. I pictured myself as a zombie, my skin rotting off-  
  
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!' my mind screamed. Maybe it was a coincidence, so what if my shoulder itches a bit? It's no big deal.   
  
The first stage is skin irritation...  
  
So maybe there's an antidote around here. The notes mentioned an antidote in Antarctica, but maybe I'd be lucky enough to find some here. If it was here, it'd definitely be in the research lab.   
  
I didn't really want to go there right away. I'd go to the airport before I went there. That placed terrified me. I remembered waking up, hearing screaming outside my cell. When I looked outside, I'd see a researcher there with a few men pulling some poor guy out of his cell. The prisoner would always be screaming and pleading for them not to take him, but they'd always drag him off to the lab anyway. I used to wonder if I was someday going to be dragged out of my cell and forced to suffer whatever hell they had in store for me...  
  
I made my way outside. I heard the claws of those demon dogs that had bitten me. This time I was glad to see them.   
  
"Come on out, doggies! I have a treat for you," I yelled. Almost instantly they appeared. Each dog was gruesome looking. They had chunks of flesh missing, revealing bone and sinew. They snarled at me, preparing to attack. I aimed the gold lugers at them.   
  
"Try and bite me again, I dare you," I said, feeling arrogant. Two of them ran forward and leaped at me at the same time. I shot them both out of the air. The bullets ripped into their flesh and they both hit the ground with a satisfying yelp. I didn't wait for them to get back up, instead I walked up to them and fired repeatedly at them. They both yelped and struggled to get back up, but their efforts were in vain. They let out one last cry before collapsing in a pool of their own blood. The last one managed to knock me over. It snapped at me and I tried keeping it away from my neck. I lifted the gold luger with my free hand and raised it to the dog's head. I fired three bullets into its head and it collapse with one last yelp. I pushed the corpse off me and got to my feet, brushing myself off. Revenge was good.   
  
I walked towards the airport, thankfully it was very close by. I turned the steering wheel and the submarine surfaced so I could climb aboard. The submarine was pretty easy to operate, and I was able to get to the airport. Finally!  
  
I climbed out and ran towards the airport. As soon as I opened the door, three zombies clad in dark blue stumbled out to greet me. I opened fire on all three of them. They collapsed before they could touch me. I ran into the next room, where the airplane was. What I found was a disappointment.   
  
"Three proofs..." I said to myself, "Three army proofs! How the heck I'm I supposed to find those?!" I stared at the lift. It wasn't going to move until I placed all three proofs. I had no idea where to start looking for them, maybe Claire had been lucky enough to see one...  
  
'Maybe there's one at the research lab,' I thought with a grin. It was unlikely, but since I was going there anyway...  
  
I walked all the way back to the prison, trying to remember my way to the guillotine room. So far, I had encounter a few amount of monsters and a lot of corpses. It seemed like someone had already been through here. I rubbed at my shoulder as I walked towards the guillotine room. It still itched like crazy. The faster I found the serum, the better.   
  
The guillotine room was even worse when you stepped inside it. The smell of death smothered this place. It was just as bad as the prisoners had described. I walked up to the guillotine. I stared up at the blood-covered blade with disgust. When I moved away from it, I accidentally bumped into it. The blade instantly fell, barely missing my fingers. I swore loudly, feeling like I had just had a heart attack. I quickly made my way into the research lab before I found anymore surprises.   
  
The research lab wasn't like I had expected it to be. I was expecting something from those sci-fi horror movies. There was a dead guy strapped down on the table though, it seemed that the researchers were in the middle of their work when the attack took place. There was a body bag on the table. I needed to find the antidote and get out of here, this place was giving me the creeps.  
  
Did it just move?  
  
I quickly started searching through the entire lab. I didn't really know what I was looking for. Maybe there was a big bottle marked "T-Virus Antidote" or something. I saw another door and decided to check it out. Maybe all the medical stuff was in there.   
  
My mouth hung open at the sight of the room I had entered. It was a torture chamber. It seemed like it was straight out of a horror movie, but only this was worse. It was so disgusting, what was more disgusting was the mangled zombies that had noticed I was there.   
  
One of them grabbed me, it was a mutilated zombie that was covered in flames. I instinctively tried to push it off, but I only ended up getting my hand burned. I cried out in pain and grabbed its jaw before it could bite me. I shot it in the head with the gold luger. I stared in shock as its head splattered everywhere, like I had just stuck a few sticks of dynamite into its head and lit the fuse. Blood, brain matter, and other stuff I didn't want to think about splattered onto my face. I quickly wiped my face off and scrambled out of the room. I didn't want to look for the antidote in there.  
  
"Eww, gross! I can't believe I got it on me," I complained as I entered the lab. I'd continue my search here. If I didn't find the antidote, maybe I could find some notes that would be more helpful. I began rummaging through a stack of papers, I didn't even hear the footsteps behind me.   
  
"Oh, I see that there are still some survivors left," a deep voice said. I dropped the papers and whirled around. There stood a tall man dressed in black. He had blond hair, and his eyes were covered by his sunglasses. I immediately didn't trust him.   
  
"Who are you?" I demanded.  
  
"My name is unimportant," he paused, "I'm looking for a certain girl. I believe her name was Claire Redfield," he said. I was surprised, what did a creepy guy like him want with Claire?   
  
"Have you heard of her? I believe she was on this island," he said, smirking.  
  
"What do you want with her?" I asked.   
  
"Oh, I just wanted to meet her, that's all," he said with that same twisted smirk. Big liar, like I was going to tell him about Claire. He started to walk towards me.   
  
"Tell me where she is," he said, the smirk faded.   
  
"I don't know," I answered. I really didn't know either. He grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me off the ground. I let out a cry in surprise and struggled to break free.  
  
"I'm in no mood for games. Tell me where she is or else," he said.   
  
"I told you already! I don't know where she is!" I yelled. He slammed me into the wall really hard. I grunted in pain and tried prying his fingers off my shirt. His grip was way too strong.   
  
"Well, since you're not being very helpful, I'll just-" he stopped, studying the wound on my shoulder, "you were bitten," he said suddenly.   
  
'Wow, really, thanks for telling me,' I thought sarcastically. He smiled at me.   
  
"Now I see why you came to the lab, but you won't find the antidote on this island," he said. My heart sunk. That means I had just wasted valuable time looking for antidote that wasn't here. The only way I'd find it now is if I went to Antarctica...  
  
"I guess I won't have to waste my time with you. The virus will finish you off soon enough," he said, "but I think I'll have some fun first."   
  
He threw me through the window. I felt the shards of glass slicing against my skin as I crashed through and landed roughly on the cold ground below. I tried getting back on my feet, and realized that this mysterious jerk was standing right in front of me. How was he so fast?!   
  
In an attempt to fight back, I swung my fists at him. To my dismay, he caught both my arms and twisted them painfully behind my back.  
  
"Do you know how easy it would be to break your arms right now? Maybe I'll show you..." he was interrupted by a growling noise. It wasn't like anything I had heard before. A yellowish monster walked out. A massive, hulking beast with only one arm was coming towards us.  
  
"Hmpf, I guess I'll just let this monster take care of you. I have other matters to attend to. There's a lot of dangerous monster around here. I certainly hope your friend doesn't run into one..." the stupid jerk said. He quickly dashed off. I knew I had to find Claire before this mysterious guy in black and these new kinds of monsters did. She might be in real danger right now.   
  
I quickly turned and ran towards the door. My T-Virus problem would have to wait until I found Claire again. A yellow arm shot past me and grabbed onto the door. This yellow arm was followed by a yellow body, and I soon found myself looking up at a one-armed monster. I scowled at it, nothing was going to keep me from finding Claire and getting off this island.   
  
"You want to fight me? Just go ahead and try," I said as I grabbed my lugers and prepared for battle. 


	7. Bandersnatches

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. It's been helping this story. Didn't expect an update this soon, eh? Sorry if there's any grammar mistakes in this chapter. As for Wesker...don't look at me like that, I HAD to do it! It was more fun that way...  
  
Bullets ripped into the yellow monster's skin as it faced me. It roared in pain and anger as I continued to fire at it. It's yellow arm shot out and clamped down on my head. I dropped one of the gold lugers in surprise as it lifted me off the ground.   
  
'It feels like it's crushing my head!' I thought as I kicked wildly in the air, trying to somehow break free. It was difficult to see it with its hand clamped down over my head. I shot at it, hoping that I'd be lucky enough to strike it.  
  
"Rooooaaar!" it cried. It dropped me onto the ground. I was really starting to hate that. I had shot it in the face a couple of times. It wasn't too happy about it either. It stumbled towards me to get its revenge. I quickly reached for my other luger when it suddenly struck me hard with its huge hand. I was knocked into the wall, I felt like my spine had shattered. Before I could even stand, I felt another hard blow. I cried out in pain as it struck me. I realized with horror that it was going to kill me before I had the chance to get up and fight. As I felt my strength slipping with each blow, I saw a fuel tank that was near the monster. Praying, I lifted the luger and fired at the tank. There was a large explosion and the beast was caught right in the middle of it. I quickly covered my head with my arms to protect myself. When it was over, I looked over at the monster. It had been killed in the explosion. It's lifeless, charred body was slumped on the ground. I felt exhausted. My whole body ached from that fight. If Claire had to fight one of those things...  
  
Claire!  
  
I had to find her before it was too late. I used the wall for support as I stood up. When I had the strength to start running, I made my way to the palace. Maybe I'd find her there. As I ran towards the palace, I found two more of those yellow monsters I had fought earlier. I knew that fighting two of them would be suicidal. I needed another way into the palace.   
  
The military training facility! There might be a way into the palace from there. Hopefully, there won't be too many of those freaky monsters. As the monsters tried to follow me, I ran towards the facility doors and closed the doors behind me.   
  
As soon as I ran in, I felt the ground shaking below me. Was there a monster under me?! I ran towards the entrance of the facility, but I felt the ground splitting under me. I went flying forward as something huge emerged from the ground with a load roar. I tumbled across the ground, and scrambled to get up. I managed to get a good look at my attacker as I rose.   
  
Geez! It was a giant worm!  
  
I shoved the door open and fell inside just as the monster dove at me. I slammed the door closed and leaned against it, holding my chest.  
  
"I think I might have had a heart attack five or six times," I muttered while trying to catch my breath. I began exploring the facility, and I noticed that someone had opened up a corridor with a card. Either one of Umbrella's employees were still alive, or I was on the right track to find Claire. Curiously, I decided to go look. I walked down the corridor which led me outside the facility. I made my way up the stairs and checked the nearest door. It was locked. I tugged at it a few more times before giving up and then I tried the other door. It creaked open and I went inside.   
  
It was surprisingly quiet. I was expecting at anytime for some monster to leap out at me. I opened the gray door and walked in. All I saw inside was a typewriter, a box, and a comfy-looking seat. Maybe I could take a nap. That's what I really wanted to do. I heard gunfire from outside, and a roar. I jumped, looking around for the source of the sound. I peered out the window of the room, and to my surprise I found Claire being lifted into the air by those creepy yellow monsters. I found finally found her! I decided that the quickest way to get to her was to leap through the window. I broke through the window, firing at the yellow monster as I landed. It dropped Claire and now its attention was on me. Good.   
  
I fired the lugers as fast as I could into the monster's chest, approaching it as I fired. This one was a little stupider compared to the other I fought, for it keep pausing every time I shot at it. It was an advantage for me at least. When I was just a few inches away from it, I slammed my foot hard into it's stomach and it fell back. I fired a final shot into it for good measure. The monster was dead.   
  
I walked over to check on Claire, she looked like she wasn't hurt. I bent down next to her.  
  
"Don't worry, Claire, your knight in shining armor is here," I said grinning. She frowned, I knew she was the type of girl who hated comments like that.   
  
"You wish," she grumbled, "but thanks for the help. Here," She pulled out two submachine guns and held them out to me. My eyes lit up.  
  
"Submachine guns?! For me?!" I asked.   
  
"You know the deal, in exchange for your lugers," she said. I was more than happy to make the trade.  
  
"Okay! Okay! Take them," I said. It felt like I was getting a Christmas present or something. I wasn't sure what she wanted with the lugers, but I didn't care, the submachine guns were a perfect trade.   
  
"This thing is too cool! Now this is my kind of weapon!" I pointed them at the wall to test them out.  
  
Click.  
  
Click click.   
  
I realized with dismay that they were empty. Did she trick me just to get the lugers? I whirled around.  
  
"Hey! These are empty! You cheated me!" I growled. She laughed, then pointed at some boxes stacked on top of each other.  
  
"Relax, there's some ammo up there just for you," she said. I looked up wondering how I would get it.  
  
"Give me a boost and I'll get it for you," she said. Problem solved. I got down on my hands and knees. I felt her climb onto my back and I winced. Her heels were digging into my back.   
  
"Hey! Hurry up! You're heavier than you look," I complained.  
  
"Don't be such a baby. I've almost got them," she told me.   
  
'Let's see how much of a baby you are when you've got someone digging their heels into your spine,' I thought bitterly. She finally got down and handed me the ammunition. I loaded it into the submachine guns. I felt the ground jerk under us. As we began to descent, I heard an unfamiliar voice.  
  
"Now that your knight has made his appearance, he can join you into your descent into death..."  
  
"Alfred," Claire gritted her teeth. That was the infamous Alfred Ashford?! I couldn't believe that he was still running around in this place. It seemed like we would be in for some more trouble. As if we weren't in enough already.  
  
We finally stopped. I wanted to test out the submachine guns on whatever monsters might be lurking in the next rooms. I decided to volunteer to go clear out the area.  
  
"Alright! Let's do this!" I said, "Wait here, Claire! I'm going to test out the new toys!"   
  
"Be careful, Steve," she said. I walked into the next room. There were a few zombies stumbling around. I gunned them all down with ease. The submachine guns were fast and powerful, a lot better than the lugers. I ran threw each room, firing at each zombie that dared to come close to me. Pretty soon I had the entire area cleaned out...well...aside from all the corpses. I exited the room and turned around.  
  
"It was dirty work, but this area is now cleaned!" I shouted loud enough for Claire to hear. As if on cue, Claire ran out to catch up with me.   
  
"See, you can depend on me," I told her. I reached up to rub my shoulder a bit, I wouldn't dare try to itch it. She gave me a look of concern.   
  
"Steve, has that shoulder been bothering you?" she asked. I frowned, I didn't really want to tell her that I might be infected with T-Virus.  
  
"Just itches a little, that's all," I said, but the itching seemed to have gotten more intense than last time...Please don't let this be stage two...  
  
"If I can help-" she began, I quickly cut her off.   
  
"Don't worry about it, alright? I'm not worried, you shouldn't be either," I told her. I decided to change the subject. I showed off the guns to her.  
  
"See these? They're a lot more reliable than any person," I told her. She looked at me surprised, I suppose I expected that reaction.  
  
"Than people?" she asked. I began walking towards door, she didn't understand. She still had that same faith in humanity. Yet, she did show me that not all humans suck...I guess. She saved my life after all.   
  
"Steve," she said. I stopped, I didn't turn around to face her.   
  
"Why were you brought here? Who brought you here?" I had been fearing these questions. I was afraid of her prying into my past. I didn't want to remember. Please don't make me remember it...  
  
"Where is your family?" she asked. That did it. Memories began flooding my mind. Stuff I wanted to forget. Dad, mom, and I were living so peacefully until-  
  
Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to remember it!   
  
"Shut up! I don't want to talk about it!" I screamed. I fired the submachine guns at the wall, the gunfire distracting me from those memories. I didn't mean to yell at her like that, but if I let myself remember those things, I'd fall apart.   
  
"Steve..." she sounded startled. The images began to clear.  
  
"Never mind. Let's get going," I said. I opened the door and went it, hearing Claire's footsteps behind me. 


	8. The Ashfords

Author's Note: I'm on a roll! This focuses more on the actual storyline plot then my plot about Steve's infection (My plot will come into play later...mwahahaha). Enjoy!   
  
We took the elevator up. We both remained silent the entire time. I ran ahead of Claire and waited for her at the end of the balcony. The moment she reached me, the balcony broke apart. I let out a startled cry as we both fell.  
  
I landed face first on the ground. I rubbed my head and looked for Claire.   
  
"Ugh....ughn..." I heard her groan. She was trying to pull her leg out from the some of the debris that fell along with us.  
  
"Claire, are you okay?" I asked. She didn't answer. I moved over to help her. She stopped trying to pull her leg out and looked up.  
  
"Steve! Behind you!" she said. I heard shuffling behind me. It was another zombie. I turned around aiming my guns at the undead monster, and once I had saw its face, I found out that I couldn't fire at it.   
  
No...it can't be...  
  
"No..." It came closer, close enough so I could see its face up close. I backed away, bumping into the truck behind me. I couldn't shoot it. That same monster that had once been family.  
  
Father...  
  
"What's wrong, Steve?! Shoot it!" Claire said in a frantic voice.   
  
"I-I can't! No!" I screamed.   
  
Father...  
  
My eyes closed, and I prayed that it would all go away. I prayed that by some chance that it'd go away. I didn't want to remember...  
  
Father...  
  
"Steve!" Claire cried again. I heard it moan and shuffle away from me. It was going for Claire. She'd die if I didn't help...  
  
"No! Stay away!" she yelled. I had to make a choice fast. Claire was going to die.  
  
"Ahhhh!" I heard Claire scream. My eyes flew open and I saw that man-no, monster-leaning down to finish Claire off.   
  
Claire...  
  
Father...  
  
Claire...  
  
"FATHER!" I screamed as I felt myself squeeze the triggers on the submachine guns. My father let out a cry as each bullet tore into his rotten skin. He collapsed on the ground, but I continued to shoot at him. It wasn't until I heard the clicking of the empty guns that I finally stopped. All I could do was stare in shock until I fell to my knees. I felt tears in my eyes. I couldn't hold them back.  
  
"Father..."   
  
Why...?  
  
"Father..."  
  
Why did it have to be me...?  
  
"Father..."  
  
Why did I have to kill him...?   
  
Claire had freed herself and was at my side. She placed her hand on my shoulder. I decided now was the time to answer her questions. As soon as I had stopped crying, I told her my story.  
  
"Dad used to work for Umbrella," I began, "He was stealing information. He would sell it to the highest bidder. He was caught, mom was killed and we were sent here," I said.   
  
"Oh Steve..." Claire said.   
  
"He was a fool to do something so reckless...so stupid..." I said softly. I fought back the tears that threatened to fall.   
  
"It'll be okay, just rest for now," Claire said. I felt her rub my back. She got up and left me to be alone, and I was grateful. I looked at my father's corpse. I thought I had hated him, I thought that it'd be alright to blame him for my suffering, but I realized that I had still loved him. I never wanted him to die like this, and now he was gone. He had left me alone too. I couldn't stand it any longer. I curled up on the ground and went to sleep.  
  
When I woke up, I felt awful. My shoulder was itching worse. This was probably stage two. I didn't have time to fool around. I had to find Claire. Even though it was nice of her to leave me alone, there were still those monsters and that weird guy that was after her.   
  
I shook my head. I didn't know why I felt so protective of her all of a sudden. Maybe because she saved my life, but it felt like it was more than that.   
  
'Don't worry about it now,' I told myself, 'you've got to find her before something else does.' I got up and decided to go search the palace first. As I got up I noticed submachine gun ammo lying next to me. Claire must have came back while I was sleeping.   
  
"Thanks, Claire," I smiled and loaded the ammunition into the guns. It was time to go.   
  
I ran across the yard of the facility. I didn't stop running until I was safely outside the facility. I heard the worm monster roar behind me. That thing still gave me the creeps. I walked towards the palace, ready to fight the monsters that were roaming here. To my surprise, I found both of them dead. Lots of arrows were sticking out of their corpses. Had Claire done this? I stepped over them and walked up to the gates.  
  
The palace was quiet, just like it had been before. I tried the stairs this time. I didn't want to go back to the room with the gold lugers. I walked into the room to the right. There was a typewriter and a box, but nothing really that special. I walked around and saw a door. The lugers I had given Claire were in there. I pushed it open and made my way through the other rooms.  
  
I had been expecting some kind of puzzle or something, but it seemed like Claire had taken care of all that. Which meant I was probably close to finding her. I found myself outside. There were some corpses of zombies scattered about. There were three more zombies coming towards me. I didn't even notice how close they were. I could just run past them and save ammo...  
  
But that wouldn't be like me, now would it?  
  
I fired the submachine guns at them. They moaned in pain as blood splattered everywhere. They fell one at a time, the first one barely managed to touch my shoulders before falling to the ground dead. I didn't care how easy they were to kill, it was still gross. I ran towards a large mansion I had never seen before. Perhaps I'd find Claire there.   
  
The inside of the mansion was dark and gloomy. I wasn't surprised. This place obviously belonged to the Ashfords. There were many dolls in the room. All of them were put through some sort of torture, like dolls being placed on spikes and such. Even though they were just dolls, it looked like they were crying out in agony. It was really creepy. I ran up the stairs and made my way into the next room.   
  
I heard a faint moaning, but I didn't bother with it. I walked away from the source of the sound and walked towards the door. I heard a gunshot that made me jump.   
  
"Next time I won't miss..." a female voice hissed. I couldn't tell who it was.   
  
"W-wait!" another voice cried. I knew immediately whose voice that belonged to. It was Claire. I shoved the door open.  
  
"What's going on here?" I demanded. I caught a glimpse of a tall, blonde haired woman holding a rifle. She fired at me before I had time to react. I felt the bullet cut through my arm and immediately clutched it in pain. Not as bad as a dog bite, but it still stung. I grabbed my submachine guns and returned fire. She screamed and disappeared through a secret door.   
  
I saw Claire behind me. I looked at where the bullet struck. It wasn't serious.  
  
"After her," I told her. I wanted more payback for what that crazy woman did. I began to wonder if the woman I shot at was Alexia, but Alexia had disappeared a long time ago...   
  
"Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded.  
  
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," I walked over to the door and pushed it open. We both entered. I saw a dress with blood on it on the bed. I looked under the bed for any clues about the mysterious woman we had met. Claire walked past me.  
  
"Hey, what's this?" Claire asked. I walked over to her and she held up a blonde wig.  
  
"I dunno. Maybe it belonged to that woman. Maybe she's bald," I guessed. Claire laughed a little.   
  
"Maybe we should go give it to her?" she suggested. I was about to respond when I heard a loud cry from somewhere in the room. A strange man dressed in red and holding a rifle leaped down from the bed canopy. Claire got out of the way before he landed on her. I violently shoved him away. I pointed the submachine guns at him.  
  
"It's Alfred," Claire said to me. So we finally meet, Mr. Ashford. I wanted to kill him right there and then, for running this prison, and if that woman was Alexia...  
  
I saw Alfred staring at his reflection in the mirror with wide horrified eyes. He gently touched the mirror. It was then I noticed he was wearing lipstick and eye-liner.   
  
"No...It can't be..." he whispered. He touched his own face. He shrieked and ran out the door, slamming it behind him.   
  
"Wait a second. What just happened?" I asked Claire. I was completely lost.   
  
"So there never was an Alexia after all!" she exclaimed. It struck me. Alfred thought he was Alexia?   
  
"You mean he thinks he's two people? Okay! That's it! Let's get out of here," I definitely didn't want to stay here with a crazy guy like that. To make matters worse, I heard something I did not want to hear over the speakers.  
  
"The self-destruct system has been activated. All personnel please evacuate immediately." 


	9. Struggling to Escape

Author's Note: Hiya! This isn't as action-related as the other chapters, since Steve just pilots the plane. This chapter has a bit of romance in it (there's more to come too). The next chapter will be Steve's hunt for the antidote, and the introduction of the Hunters. ^_^ Enjoy!  
  
"That freak! He's trying to blow us up with the facility! We need to get to that airport," I said. Then it struck me. We needed those three proofs before we could operate the lift to the plane.  
  
I cursed myself for not thinking of it before. I had been so wrapped up in my own problems that I completely forgot about it.   
  
"Claire, do you have three proofs with you?" I asked hopefully. She pulled out all three army proofs.  
  
"What, you mean these?" she asked. I wanted to jump up and hug her, but I think she would have pulled out that bow gun to use on me before I got too close. It seemed that I had underestimated her a lot.   
  
"Let's get going," I said. We both ran through the mansion, through the palace, and we didn't stop until we were outside. I heard the voice on the speakers again.  
  
"The self-destruct system as been activated. All personnel please evacuate immediately."  
  
"C'mon! Hurry Claire!" I urged as we ran towards the airport. We both climbed into the sub. I nervously fiddled with the controls and the sub shook slightly as it left the port. Claire had her arms folded across her chest and was leaning against the side of the sub.   
  
The submarine came to a halt and I climbed out. I helped Claire out and we dashed down the stairs. Three zombies were there to greet us.   
  
"Stay behind me," I said. I squeezed the triggers of the submachine guns and they soon fell afterwards. I ran past them when I felt something grab my foot. I tripped and landed hard on my stomach. One of the zombies were still alive and was ready to take a bite out of my foot. It was about to sink its teeth in when it was gunned down by Claire. It moaned and convulsed before dropping to the ground. Claire put away her handgun and pulled me to my feet.   
  
"We don't have much time!" she said and dragged me to the airport. She placed all three proofs in and the lift carried us to the plane. We were finally going to get out of here.  
  
My hopes shattered as I fiddled with the controls of the plane. We couldn't take off yet until the bridge was raised.  
  
"No! We can't take off until we raise the bridge," I said. Claire walked up to me and looked out the window.   
  
"Leave that to me. You stay here and make sure we'll be able to take off," she ran off again. I didn't really like the idea, but I knew that she could handle herself now. I looked at the controls. It was time to do my job too.   
  
It seemed like everything was working fine. Whether we got out of here or not was now in Claire's hands. It seemed like hours she had been away. What if that weird guy found her? She might need help or something.  
  
'You need to back off,' I told myself, 'she'll do fine. I can't let myself think like that.' I was relieved when I heard the door open and Claire walk in.  
  
"What took you so long? I was getting worried," I said. I turned to look at her, she looked like she had fought a really tough enemy. She had the cuts and scratches to prove it too.   
  
"No time to explain! Let's get going," she said.   
  
"Right! We're out of here! Time to say good-bye to this death-trap," I said. We took off into the air. We were safe from the island, we would never have to go back there again.   
  
"We made it! Wahoo!" I cheered.   
  
"It's finally over," Claire said. I looked at her for a moment, and then looked down.  
  
"Claire...I'm sorry, I know I've caused a lot of trouble for you," I said. She just placed her hand on my shoulder.  
  
"No, it's okay. It was hard for both of us," she said.   
  
"Well, I really hope you find your brother. I know what it's like to be alone," I said, and it wasn't a good feeling either.   
  
"Oh Steve..." she said. She sounded sympathetic.   
  
I was suddenly reminded that I still needed an antidote. I panicked. How was I going to get the antidote now? I had no right to ask Claire to risk her life again to help me find the antidote, and now that the symptoms have gotten worse...  
  
"So, where should we go, now? I can take you anywhere you want, Claire," I said, trying to not let my nervousness and fear show. She placed her hand on her chin.  
  
"Hmm...well, I hear Hawaii's nice this time of year," she said, grinning innocently.   
  
"You got it!" I said.   
  
'How about Antarctica?' I thought bitterly.   
  
She began to laugh. I laughed along with her. It felt nice, I couldn't remember the last time I laughed. However, the antidote was the most important thing on my mind. I didn't care if Claire wanted to help or not, but she at least needed to know. After all, what would she think if I suddenly turned into a zombie?  
  
"Claire, I need to tell you something..." I began.   
  
"What is it?" she asked.   
  
"Well-" before I could tell her, the plane shook violently. When it stopped I noticed the cargo-hatch was open.  
  
"What's going on?" Claire asked.  
  
"The cargo-hatch is open. I can't close it," I said.   
  
"I'll go back and check it out. You just fly the plane," she said. She grabbed the bow gun and scooped up some gun powder arrows. She loaded them into the gun. I pressed a couple buttons.   
  
"Thanks. I've unlocked the door for you," I said. She nodded and went to go look. I tried to stay focused on flying, but I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the plane. I suddenly heard the explosions of the gun powder arrows going off, and the angry roars of something I had never heard before. It definitely was a monster, but what kind of monster?  
  
"Please be safe," I said. I wanted to go and help, but I needed to control the plane. The explosions had stopped, along with the roaring. I was afraid of what might of happened. Please don't let her be dead...  
  
"All done," I heard Claire say. I jumped. She casually walked in.   
  
"What was wrong?" I asked.  
  
"Oh nothing. Just a giant cockroach that had to be stepped on," she said with an arrogant smile. I was about to ask about what had happened to her when I felt the plane shift.  
  
"What's going on?" Claire asked. I tugged at the controls, but they wouldn't budge.   
  
"I don't know! The plane just changed directions on its own! It's on automatic pilot mode, I can't switch over to manual control!" I told her. The monitor flickered on. Alfred appeared on it, he spoke in a high-pitched feminine voice.   
  
"My apologies, but I cannot allow you to escape now. Mwahahaha!" the monitor turned off.   
  
"Alfred! Cross-dressing freak!" Claire cried. My hatred for Mr. Ashford grew. He may have just sealed our fate. I got out of the pilot's seat. There was no point in sitting there. I sat down elsewhere.  
  
"Man, this sucks," I said. Claire sat down besides me.   
  
"Yeah, but don't worry. We'll get out of this," she said. She leaned against me.   
  
'You might, but I'm not,' I knew what fate was in store for me. I wasn't going to get that antidote. I still needed to tell Claire...  
  
"Claire, I need to-" I felt her head against my shoulder. I looked at her. She was sleeping peacefully. I'd tell her later. I decided to follow her example, and I went to sleep too.   
  
I woke up when I felt Claire shift in her sleep. I felt worse. My chest ached. I lifted my shirt to see what was wrong with me. My eyes widen in horror. There were a couple large wounds across my stomach and chest. I know I hadn't been injured there. They hurt badly. My leg ached too. It was swollen. I felt like I had been hit by a truck.   
  
Stage three...  
  
It was only a matter of time before I hit stage four. Then I could kiss my life as a human good-bye. I felt a wave of despair. I had tried to stay optimistic. I thought I could find an antidote, but it was too late...  
  
I looked at Claire. It was the first time I had taken a good look at her face. She was pretty, kind, brave...my opinion of her had really changed. At first, I thought she was just a dumb girl who relied too much on others. She really proved me wrong, and now I may end up relying on her. I didn't want to turn into a zombie. I didn't want to hurt Claire. People like her didn't deserve my kind of fate.   
  
I leaned closer to her face. I knew I'd never get this chance if she was awake, nor would I probably get this chance ever again. Just one small kiss couldn't hurt, right? She stirred before I could kiss her, and I jumped back. I was afraid of her waking up. I sighed and got up to look out the window. I found out that I had some difficulty walking over to the window. It was frustrating.   
  
I saw from the window that it was snowing.   
  
"Hey, where are we?" I asked out loud. I went to go check to see where we ended up. I heard Claire groan as she woke up.  
  
"Huh?" she mumbled.   
  
"Latitude eighty-two point seventeen degrees. That's...the Antarctic! We're over the Antarctic!" I said. I didn't care if I sounded excited about it. Alfred had led me straight to the antidote. Thanks a lot, Mr. Ashford. There was hope for me after all.   
  
Claire ran over to the window. She looked around.  
  
"Hey! Those are seaplanes that left the island just before us!" she said.   
  
"And that must mean, this place belongs to Umbrella!" I said. I'd definitely find the antidote here. My excitement and joy ended when I realized that the plane wasn't slowing down to land. I quickly turned to Claire.  
  
"Hang on! We're going to crash!" I yelled. The plane smashed into the ground and we skidded forward. Claire and I were violently thrown forward from the force of impact. I slammed my head into something and everything went black. 


	10. Searching for an Antidote

Author's Note: This chapter may be a little strange to you. Yes, I know there's no hunters here, but I wanted them for the story. You'll see why. I'm especially proud of the Steve-Hunter battle. I hope you like this chapter, it was fun writing it. Oh and one more thing. The spider Steve sees is the one Chris fights. I can't remember if the spider under the floor that Claire encounters was the same one Chris fights, but the regular spiders just aren't big enough to...well, you'll see. Enjoy!  
  
"Wake up, Steve!"   
  
I groaned as I felt someone shaking me. My head hurt along with the rest of my body. Perfect.  
  
"Ohh...oww...we're still alive?" I asked. I got onto my feet. It was still painful. I slammed my good foot into the door and the door fell to the ground below. I leaped out and landed on my feet. I almost cried out as I did it. It really hurt...  
  
I held out my arms and waited for Claire to jump down. She leaped down and landed right on top of me. We both fell backwards and by reflex I wrapped my arms around her. She pushed herself up, looking at me as she rose. She had such pretty eyes...  
  
We stared at one another for a moment. She got up and held out her hand to me.  
  
"Thanks," she said simply. I stared at her hand for a moment, and got up. I didn't need the help. I still felt a little embarrassed. I looked at the plane.  
  
"Oh...uh...plane's trashed. Let's split up and look for another way off this over-sized freezer," I said.   
  
"Right!" Claire nodded. I ran off to explore, or at least tried too. I realized I was limping as I ran. This wasn't good. I had to find the antidote fast. I hoped Claire hadn't noticed. I didn't want to get her involved.   
  
I walked down the stairs and turned. There were bodies wrapped in cocoons. I heard the soft flapping of wings, and decided that I needed to get out of here fast. I dragged myself towards the door at the end of the corridor and went in.   
  
I was greeted with several moans. There were zombies here too. I wouldn't fight all of them, just enough to clear a path. I shot every zombie that was in my way. Luckily, they were spread out, so I didn't have to worry about them ganging up on me. I entered the room marked "BOW".   
  
The room was rather quiet. It was covered in what looked like a spider's web. I instantly had a bad feeling about the room. There was a fuel tank and glass tubes, I had no idea what was inside them. I didn't want to know either. I had to gather my courage and continue looking for the antidote.   
  
I began looking through boxes and was disappointed when I found out that they had been emptied. I heard a large thump and the cracking of glass. I twisted around to see that the glass from the tubes had shattered. I heard another thump. I think I saw a clawed scaly hand. I grabbed the submachine guns, ready to fight anything that stood in my way of the antidote.   
  
It seemed to happen in slow motion. The glass shattered everywhere, slimly goo splattered on the floor, and a large green monster tumbled out. As it got to it's feet, it reminded me of those monsters in horror movies. It looked like a reptile or a frog of some sort. It had large claws, large teeth, and a large body to go along with it. It saw me and let out a loud battle cry. It ran forward at lightening speed. I fumbled with the triggers and sprayed it with bullets, hoping that it wasn't too hard to kill.  
  
I missed.  
  
It easily dodged them by leaping out of the way. I realized that it was going to land on me and I quickly dove to the side. I landed hard on my side, and I heard its claws slamming into the ground where I had been. I thought about trying to run from it, but in my condition, running away would only result in a faster death. I fired at it again, this time getting in a couple hits before it leaped away crying in pain. It turned to look at me, showing me furious animal-like eyes. I stumbled onto my feet, but I felt something hard slam into me, knocking me over again. I felt sharp claws digging into my leg and I cried out in pain. I pulled the triggers of the submachine guns and showered the lizard monster with bullets. It squealed and scrambled away from me. I sat up, my leg was covered in blood. I looked at the monster. Blood oozed from its wounds, but it didn't seemed bothered at all by it. It seemed mad. What it didn't know was that it was near the fuel tank.   
  
I fired, not striking the monster but the tank. It leaped out of the away, getting hit in the back by the explosion. It landed hard on its stomach. The explosion had made a big hole in the floor. The monster got up, and as punishment for almost killing it, it charged at me. I closed my eyes. I knew that I wouldn't survive the next blow...  
  
That's when I heard it shriek. I noticed a couple of long, furry legs had a hold of the struggling monster. Those long furry legs belonged to a gigantic spider. The monster shrieked again, trying to escape, but the spider was stronger. It slowly dragged the monster away. The monster dug its claws into the floor, struggling and crying, but it was hopeless. It was dragged under the floor. I climbed forward to see what was going on.   
  
The spider held the screaming monster close to its ugly face. I turned my head away in disgust as the spider clamped its mouth around the monster's head and twisted it off with a sickening crack. I could hear it still feasting on the monster's corpse. I didn't want to end up like that monster, so I escaped out the door.   
  
I was relieved when I found that there were no more zombies in the other room. Whatever zombies I hadn't killed had already been disposed of. I was so tired, I wondered if I was going to die before I could reach the antidote. It's not like I knew exactly where it was.   
  
I tried the room marked "WEAPON". It was unlikely I'd find the antidote here, but I needed to try at least. I heard more zombies, I felt one grab me. I pushed it off and shot it. I didn't have time to keep fighting like this. My ammo was running out too. I could probably kill all the zombies in the room though. There were two more of them. I walked around and shot both of them. I had barely enough ammo now. I began checking the room, searching everywhere. I was making quite a mess when I saw it. It was the antidote. It was in a transparent bag resting on a shelf. It was in a rather awkward place, but I didn't care.   
  
"I found it!" I cried triumphantly. There was a needle laying beside it too. I'll just inject myself with the antidote and I'll be just fine. My victory was short-lived. I heard the clicking of claws, followed by a familiar screech. I peered around the corner and saw that it was another one of those lizard monsters. I tried to hide myself behind the shelf, hoping it'd go away. Maybe if I took the antidote and escaped...  
  
My hand reached for the antidote and needle. I pulled them from the shelf, and accidentally bumped against something. To my horror, I heard something crash. The monster quickly whipped its head, looking around for the source of the sound.  
  
'Please don't let it find me...' I prayed. It began investigating the broken glass, sniffing it. I began crawling towards the door. I was going to make it out and get myself cured. I heard another screech, and saw that it was looking right at me. It looked like a predator that had found an injured prey. I lunged at the door, but it was already on me. I fell hard on the ground and it ripped into me. The pain was extreme. It felt ten times worse than when the dogs attacked me. I couldn't fight back, not like this.   
  
I heard the door fly open, slamming hard against the wall. There was gunfire followed by a loud screech from the monster. I tried to see what was happening, but everything was too blurry. There was screaming, it sort of sounded like Claire. The monster gave a death cry before falling on me. I think I had screamed too when I felt its heavy corpse drop on me. As everything went black, I heard a voice.  
  
"Steve!" 


	11. Nursing Wounds

Author's Note: Hiya! This chapter focuses more on the Steve/Claire relationship ^_^ I was surprised to see how much dialogue was in this chapter. Hopefully, I did well to please you romance fans in this chapter (Sorry, but I'm not experienced with romance writing). I'll let you be the judge though, enjoy!  
  
'I'm...still alive?'  
  
'Everything hurts...'  
  
I felt something prick my skin, which instantly woke me from my sleep. Figuring it to be a monster, I lashed out at the unknown enemy.   
  
"Hey! Hey! It's me!" a voice cried. I dropped my arm. It was Claire.   
  
My vision began to clear, and I saw Claire staring at me. She looked really tired.   
  
"Claire...?" I said. She smiled.  
  
"I thought you'd never wake up," she said. I realized I had been propped up against the wall, far away from the monster's corpse. My wounds had been wrapped up, a little sloppily. Claire looked embarrassed.  
  
"Sorry, I'm not really that great of a medic. I just basically know how to mix herbs and stuff," she said. I touched my bandaged stomach and winced. I looked at her again. I needed the antidote, I didn't care anymore if Claire knew about the T-Virus.   
  
"Claire...the antidote...I need it," I mumbled.   
  
"I know. You woke up right after I gave you the injection," she said. I was a little confused. Claire knew about it? My confusion must of been apparent to Claire.  
  
"I'm not stupid, Steve. I saw how you were walking when we split up. I've seen these monsters before. I also saw this," she held up the T-Virus note that was in my pocket, "it fell out when you collapsed."   
  
"You've seen these monsters before?" I asked. I couldn't believe it, this girl who I used to think was so naive? Claire looked a little sad.  
  
"Yeah...I'll tell you about it when we get out of here, okay?" she said.   
  
"Thanks for helping me," I said.   
  
"Why didn't you tell me about the infection?" she asked, suddenly changing the subject. I was a bit surprised.   
  
"I didn't want to get you involved. It's my problem," I replied.   
  
"I could have helped, we might have found the cure faster," she said. I just closed my eyes, I didn't want to argue about it. I wanted to go to sleep.  
  
"Steve?" Claire sounded frightened.   
  
"I'm okay, just tired," I said. I looked at her, worry was built up inside of me.  
  
"Claire...will I turn into one of those zombies?" I asked. I didn't know whether or not I was in stage four. She shook her head.  
  
"No, you'll be fine. I promise," she said, she pulled out a piece of paper with a large green powder on it, "here, take this. It should make you feel better." She helped me swallow the herb mixture. It tasted horrible, but the throbbing pain seemed to slow down. She laughed at my expression when I gulped it down.  
  
"Yeah, I know. It tastes like crap, but it'll increase your strength. I gave you some of my first aid sprays while you were out too. You should be fine soon," she said.   
  
We were silent. We just stared at each other for a few minutes. I had never realized how much I appreciated Claire. She was the only person I felt I could trust. I began to feel uncomfortable and looked down. I felt my eyelids fluttering close.  
  
"Claire, I'm sorry...I'm just really tired..." I began.   
  
"Don't worry, you can sleep if you want. You need it," she said. She sat next to me. Her body heat was warming me. It was a nice change from the freezing Antarctic air.   
  
"I'll stay with you until you're strong enough to leave," she said, resting her head on my shoulder.   
  
"Thanks," I said quietly, but I don't think she heard it.   
  
'She's going to stay with me,' I thought. I was happy.   
  
"Claire, I think being with you has made me stronger," I said, "I'm really glad I met you." I was greeted by silence. What was she thinking? I peered over my shoulder, and I found her eyes closed. She was peacefully asleep.  
  
"Why do you always have to fall asleep so fast...?" I muttered. I looked at her again. I gently pushed the strands of hair out of her face. I leaned forward and quickly kissed her.   
  
'She would've killed me if she had woken up,' I thought. My face went red. I felt embarrassed about what I did, but it was satisfying.   
  
"Sweet dreams, Claire," I said, then I closed my eyes and fell asleep.   
  
I woke up to find that the pain had lessened a great deal. Either it was the antidote, the herb mixture, or both. My shoulder wasn't itching anymore, thankfully. The T-Virus was gone. I wasn't going to turn into a monster.   
  
"Steve?" Claire lifted her head to look at me. I rubbed my shoulder. No pain, no itching...  
  
"I'm not going to turn into a monster," I said. She smiled.  
  
"Well of course you're not. I'd be mad if I went through all that trouble to help you and you turn into a zombie," she said. I quickly got onto my feet, stumbling as I did. I felt my strength returning little by little. It was as if I were walking for the first time.   
  
"Hey, take it easy," Claire warned. She got up to help me.   
  
"I'm fine," I protested as she walked up to me.  
  
"You haven't fully recovered," she argued. I felt strong enough to leave, though.   
  
"C'mon Claire, let's go. I want to get out of here," I said.   
  
"I do to, but..." she watched me as I walked towards the door, "you're not going to give up, are you?" she asked.  
  
"Nope," I grinned. Claire sighed.   
  
"Okay, but I want to help fight too," she said.   
  
"That's fine with me," I said, and we both left the room.   
  
We explored the entire base. Claire sometimes left me to complete some things on her own. Our adventure took us to a machine room. There was something there that caught my eye. A large crane. If I could operate it...  
  
"Claire, why don't you go check out the other rooms? There's something I want to do here," I said.   
  
"Okay, be back in a second," she said. She disappeared through the door. I began checking out a nearby machine. If this could operate the crane, we'd be able to bust out of here. There was a map lying on top of the machine's controls. I inspected it. It had Umbrella's Antarctic base circled, but there was another base...  
  
"Hey! I'm done. What did you find?" Claire asked, swinging the door open.  
  
"Claire! It looks like there's an Australian base seven miles from here!" I said. She walked over and looked at the map, then she looked at the crane.   
  
"If we break through that wall with that crane, we'll have a better chance of escaping," Claire said, pointing at the crane. It looked like she had read my mind.  
  
"Okay! Let's do it!" I began moving the crane. I was thrilled when I found out it was in good working condition. Claire walked past me. She leaned against the rail and watched the crane. I couldn't help but look at her. She was beautiful. The perfect girl, I guess. At least that's what it seemed like. As I looked at her, I didn't realize that I wasn't controlling the crane anymore. Claire whirled around.  
  
"Steve! Watch out!" she cried. It was too late, the crane smashed into the pipes and broke them open. Gas began pouring into the room.  
  
"No! It's toxic gas!" I fiddled with the controls hoping I could fix it. Claire grabbed my arm and dragged me away.  
  
"Come on!" she yelled. She pushed open the door and we both escaped. Once we were safe, I leaned against the rail. I had botched up big time. I'll I did was screw up...  
  
"It's all my fault," I muttered.   
  
"Don't say that!" Claire said, she looked me in the eyes, "listen to me. We'll escape from here. Together. Now let's shut off the gas. If we split up, we may have a better chance at stopping it," she said.  
  
"Okay," I said. I took off to find a way to shut off the gas.  
  
"Steve," Claire called. I turned to face her.  
  
"Don't forget, we'll get out of here together. I promise," she said. I nodded, then smiled. I ran off to find a way to shut off the gas.   
  
I retraced my steps back to the assembly room. I didn't want to go back into any those rooms. I didn't want to be ripped apart by those scaly freaks again, but I had to help Claire any way I could. I had to repay her for saving my life. I tried the "BOW" room again. The monster that attacked me was already dead, but the spider probably wasn't. The door opened with a loud creak, and I was overwhelmed by the fumes in the room. I began coughing as I scanned the room. There was gas in this room too. I spotted the gas mask next to me. I grabbed it and left the room. I began walking away when I heard Claire's voice.  
  
"Hey! Steve! Good thing I found you!" she said. She ran up to me and held up a valve.   
  
"This is what's going to shut off the gas," she said proudly, "but I need a gas mask to enter the room to shut it off."   
  
"All taken care of," I said smiling. I gave her the gas mask. Her eyes lit up.  
  
"Wow, that saves me some work. Thanks a lot! Let's go!" she said. I followed her up the small flight of stairs. She turned around and stopped me.  
  
"Wait here until I turn off the gas," she said. She slipped on the gas mask and entered. I waited patiently by the door. I heard the loud creaking of the valve being turned. I was about to go in when I faintly heard a voice.  
  
"Think again, Claire," it said. It was feminine, like I heard on the plane's monitor.  
  
Alfred!  
  
"I shall enjoy watching you shriek in agony," Alfred said. I shoved open the door, aiming at Alfred.  
  
"Not this time!" Alfred turned to face me. He looked horrified that someone had interfered. Then he gave me a furious look.  
  
"You again!" he hissed in the same voice as his sister's. He shot at me and I rolled out of the way. Another bullet whizzed past my ear and I rolled forward again until I was laying on my back in front of him. I pulled the triggers and Alfred convulsed as he was showered in bullets. He tumbled over the rail with a loud shriek. He landed harshly on a weakened part of the floor. Alfred stood up with blood covering his shirt. He groaned and reached for his sniper rifle. The ground broke under him as he reached for it and fell to his death with a scream.   
  
"Good riddance," I snarled. I walked over to the crane and motioned for Claire to follow. She looked dazed by what had happened. She hopped down the stairs to where Alfred was and scooped up his sniper rifle.   
  
"Claire, what are you doing? Hurry up," I said impatiently. She nodded and we both got into the digger. As I got into the driver's seat, I looked at her.  
  
"Ready? I'm going to bust through that wall!" I said.  
  
"Go for it!" she said enthusiastically. The crane dug into the wall as if it were digging through dirt. Water began pouring out and flooded the base. The digger moved forward and we dug through the other side. We both got out and I looked up at the helipad.  
  
"Hey Claire! Maybe we can escape through there!" I said, pointing to the helipad.  
  
"Come on! Let's go!" she said. We began out climb up the ladder knowing that nothing would get in our way now. 


	12. The Game Begins

Author's Note: Hi! This fanfic will be ending soon. Chapter 13 should be the "official" end (and it might end up being a little long). There will be a Chapter 14, but it will be a short epilogue told from the POV of two different characters. One of them should be obvious ^_^ Anyway, there will be absolutely no author's note in Chapter 13, to give you all a break from my pointless rambling. However, there will be one at the end of chapter 14.   
  
'The bars are freezing,' I thought as I climbed up the ladder. I climbed onto the helipad and ran ahead of Claire. I turned to her as she rose to her feet.  
  
"Come on, Claire! Finally we can get out of this insane place!" I said to her. She ran over to where I was standing. She glanced at the walkway then to me.  
  
"Okay! Let's go!" she said. She took a few steps down the stairs before stopping. It was as if she were frozen. She didn't turn around. What was she so hesitant about?   
  
"C'mon, let's go! What, are you scared?" I taunted, hoping to shake her out of her trance. I watched as she slowly backed up towards me. I glanced over her to see what her problem was. I heard the heavy footsteps on the walkway. Through the mist I saw the outline of a man. When it came closer, I saw that it was no man. It was bound and blindfolded, and its beating heart was exposed. To protect Claire, I shoved her behind me.   
  
"Hey you! Move it!" I growled. I aimed the submachine guns at it. It was pathetic, my guns had little or no ammo in them. The monster paid no attention. Instead, several tentacle-like limbs sprouted from its back. It slammed one of its tentacle-limbs into my chest, right above my bandaged stomach. I was unable to withstand the blow and tumbled away from the monster and from Claire. The ground disappeared from under me and I let go of the submachine guns to grab onto something. I was in luck, I grabbed one of the pipes sticking out of the platform. It was freezing, if I let go I would die.   
  
"No! Steve!" I heard Claire shout. She ran over to where I was and reached down to pull me up. I saw her turn her head and she gritted her teeth. The monster was after her now. She looked down at me.  
  
"Hold on. I'll beat that monster and come back," she said.   
  
"Claire...forget about me! Run!" I urged. However, she had already left to fight the monster. There was no way I could get her to stop now. My attempt to protect Claire had failed, and now she was risking her life one again. I hung my head, feeling depressed. It was hard to tell what was going on up there. I realized now how freezing cold it was. My fingers were frozen and my body was shaking.   
  
'Don't think about it, you'll die if you do,' I warned myself.   
  
"I've got you now..." I heard Claire say. There was a scream from the monster. I knew it was now dead. Claire appeared over the platform.   
  
"Steve! Are you alright?" Claire asked. I looked up and saw her staring down at me.   
  
"Claire...you're alive..." I said. She seemed to be unharmed too. She reached down for my hand and struggled to pull me up. Soon we were both sitting next to each other on the helipad. We were both tired and cold. I looked over at her.  
  
"I'm sorry...I failed you," I said. She looked confused for a moment, then smiled.  
  
"Don't worry about it! It was no problem," she said. She got up and patted me on the shoulder. I watched her walk away.  
  
"I swear I'll protect you next time Claire," I said quietly. I got up and followed her. She raced down the stairs and turned to me as I came down.  
  
"We did it! We're finally out!" She cried with excitement. She began laughing. I smiled and spotted a snow mobile. We'd be able to escape in that.   
  
"Look! There's a snow mobile over there!" I said, pointing to it. Without hesitating, Claire dashed towards it with me following behind her. She claimed the driver's seat and I climbed into the passenger's side.   
  
"Perfect! We'll be able to ride right over to the Australian base with this!" she said.   
  
"Alright! Let's not waste time!" I said, feeling a lot better that we were going to escape. I'd finally be able to do normal stuff again. Stuff that I want to do, not what Umbrella's guards wanted me to do. Claire seemed more excited then I was and she hadn't even been a prisoner for that long.   
  
"So, what are we going to do when we reach civilization?" I asked her.   
  
"Well...I still need to find my brother," she said. She thought for a moment, then smiled.  
  
"Wait until I introduce you to him," she said, "I'm sure he'll like you. We'll do some fun stuff together. I'm sure you haven't had any fun in a while, have you?" she asked. I shook my head, being a prisoner wasn't a whole lot of fun.   
  
"And of course, after we're reunited, we'll put a stop to Umbrella," she said, "they've gone way too far."  
  
"Yeah, they have," I agreed. I wanted to help stop Umbrella too. I wanted revenge for all the grief they've caused me. I was then reminded of something.  
  
"Claire, what happened with you and Umbrella anyway?" I asked.   
  
"Uh...well, you see, I was in Raccoon City when-" she stopped when the ground rumbled. I checked the side-view mirror to see what had happened. I saw something that kind of looked like a snake or tentacle moving through the snow. It was coming at us.   
  
"What is that?!" I shouted. Claire whipped her head around.  
  
"What's going on?!" she asked in a panicked voice. We were suddenly lifted off the ground and the sides of the vehicle were being crushed in. Claire screamed and fell on top of me, landing right on my bandaged side. I cried out in pain as we both struggled inside the snow mobile. We were being tossed around by that freaky tentacle thing. I reached out for Claire. All I managed to do was grab her hand before we were thrown again. As the vehicle smashed into the ground, I slammed into something and fell unconscious.   
  
"Aww, now isn't this precious," I heard a feminine voice say. I slowly opened my eyes and notice a blonde-haired woman hovering over me. I was still lying in the snow. The snow mobile was in flames behind us. Our only way of escaping was trashed. I saw that I still had a hold of Claire's hand. She was unconscious. She was crumpled next to me, her expression was twisted into a look of pain. I focused on the blonde-haired woman. My mind was spinning, I knew who she was.  
  
'But Alfred is dead! And so is the real Alexia!" my mind screamed. I shifted and found out that nothing was broken. I heard the woman gasp as I rose.  
  
"So you are alive!" she hissed. I ignored her and moved over to Claire. I lifted her out of the snow and into my arms.  
  
"Claire? Are you okay? C'mon, wake up," I urged. She didn't move.   
  
"Don't ignore me!" she growled. I glanced over my shoulder at her. A bitter smile appeared of my face.  
  
"What? Is there an Alfred under there too?" I asked sarcastically.   
  
"Humpf! You're not worthy enough to even speak his name," she snarled. I squinted at the mysterious blonde woman. This really was Alexia? I didn't really care about her now. Claire was my only concern. I checked her pulse, it was still beating.   
  
"Foolish boy! Do you know who stands before you?" the woman said.   
  
"Leave us alone," I said, "I don't care about you, so just go away." Her anger was apparent.   
  
"How dare you speak to someone who will soon be your queen!" she looked at Claire, then smiled.   
  
"I see. How about we play a little game that involves just the three of us?" she asked. The woman than reached down to stroke Claire's face. I pulled her away from the blonde-haired woman, Alexia, whoever it was.  
  
"Stay away from her. I'm in no mood for your stupid games," I growled. She looked surprised, then she smiled again.  
  
"Well, you see, you really don't have a choice," she said, and before I could react, she brought her hand down and struck me. There was a rush of pain before my world went black.   
  
I woke up with a large headache. My head throbbed painfully as I sat up. I looked around me and realized I wasn't sitting in the snow anymore. Instead, I was sitting in the middle of a beautiful mansion. It was dimly lit, but it was very warm. I was sitting on a red carpet that was spread out on the marble floor and stairs. I suddenly realized that Claire wasn't with me.   
  
"Claire?!" I called out, hoping she could hear me. The mansion remained eerily silent. I stood up and scanned the mansion, maybe she was lying nearby.  
  
"Claire?!" I tried again. I felt worried. If that Alexia woman had done anything to her...  
  
"Steve?" a voice answered. It was quiet and weak. I could barely hear it.   
  
"Claire! Is that you?! Answer me!" I ran back and forth, trying to find the source of the sound.   
  
"Steve, help..." It had to be Claire.   
  
"Where are you?" I asked. I looked around and spotted a shotgun on the ground. I was surprised to see that it was loaded. I picked it up just in case I needed it.   
  
"Upstairs, hurry..." I didn't waste anymore time. I dashed up the stairs as fast as I could and ran towards the door.   
  
'Hold on, Claire. I'm coming,' I thought as I opened the door. 


	13. Goodbye

The room I was reminded me of the Ashford palace. It was beautifully decorated. The room with dimly lit with candles. There were some paintings on the wall and a bookshelf. There were some herbs and ammunition for guns I didn't have, I decided to leave everything there. I was disappointed when I didn't find Claire in the room.   
  
'She must be more further away then I thought,' I thought miserably. I was afraid about what might be happening to her now. I didn't want her to die after all we've been through together. I ran into a narrow corridor, decorated with more Ashford paintings. I ran through it when I felt something smash into my back. I went flying forward and landed face-first on the ground. I heard a familiar cry that I hoped I'd never have to hear again. I turned and saw another lizard monster staring at me with cold yellow eyes. Drool dripped down its mouth. It was very, very hungry.  
  
I didn't want to fight it. It was the last enemy I wanted to fight right now. However, I wasn't going to be beat by it this time. It charged at me, lifting its clawed hand to strike me. I lifted the shotgun, just when it came close enough and fired. The monster shrieked in pain. Blood poured from its stomach. It looked shocked for a moment, then looked at me with sheer hatred. It leaped at me and I moved out of the way. Its claws scrapped against my shoulder, but it wasn't enough to actually wound me. It landed behind me and I turned around. I fired at it again, my own hatred growing for it with every shell I fired into it. I ran towards me, taking every shot. It seemed unstoppable.   
  
'Does it ever die?!' I thought, frantically firing at it. It leaped at me just as I shot at it. I thought it was going to land on me and knock me down so it could have the advantage. That's when I saw it raising its claw. It was trying to finish me in one hit. I cried out and began firing at it in the air. It shrieked in pain as blood splattered against the wall and its body fell right on top of mine. It knocked me to the floor and I struggled to push it off before it could attack. Once I pushed it off me, I realized that it was dead. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and walked past it.   
  
I was in an eerie prison area. It reminded me exactly of cell where they had kept me for so long, minus the zombies. I shuddered and tried to decide where to go.  
  
"Claire? Can you hear me?!" I shouted as loud as I could. I didn't hear her respond and I began to worry. I needed to make a decision fast. I picked the door closest to me and entered.   
  
I had a bad feeling about this place. It was just one long, dark corridor that was filled with creepy statues. I began walking down the corridor, and I felt like the statues were watching me the whole time. I quicken my pace and hurried to the end. Maybe I'd be able to find Claire or something of use. Unfortunately, when I reached the end, it was just a chair. An old stone chair. There were straps attached to it. I wasn't really surprised by it, after all I've seen.   
  
'Claire isn't in here so you should just leave already,' I told myself. I turned around and ran. Dread and fear filled me when I suddenly saw the gate beginning to shut. If it went shut, I'd be trapped and Claire and I would be doomed.   
  
'Run faster! RUN!' I screamed at myself. I ran as fast as I could possibly go. I was almost there. I was going to make it...  
  
"Silly boy, do you really think I'm going to let you get away from me?" a female voice giggled. It was Alexia. I felt something hit me hard and I fell to the ground. I watched in horror as the gate shut closed. I was trapped inside. I turned around and saw Alexia standing right in front of me. I narrowed my eyes at her.  
  
"Let me out," I growled. She only chuckled at me.   
  
"Not yet, I still need you for some tests," she said.   
  
"I'm not going to be one of your tests! Let me out so I can find Claire!" I yelled.   
  
"Oh, that girlfriend of yours? Don't worry, she's already been taken care of," she smiled. Dread rose in my chest. Claire couldn't be...  
  
"Relax, she's not dead...yet. I have big plans for the both of you," she said.   
  
"What have you done with her?" I demanded.   
  
"Well, let's just say she's in a rather sticky situation," Alexia said with a chuckle. I was furious. Alexia had trapped me in here, and now something was going to happen to Claire. I aimed the shotgun at her. She jumped back in surprise, then immediately relaxed.  
  
"Now, now. Such a violent temper. I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said. I ignored her and pulled the trigger. Alexia was going to pay. I expected to hear some sort of cry of pain from her, but instead she easily dodged it. She looked at me with inhuman eyes. Alexia was a monster.   
  
"That wasn't very nice of you," she hissed. I tried shooting her again, hoping to hit her. She leaped out of the way, and before I could fire again she punched me. I went flying and landed on my back. I struggled to stand, but in an instant she was at my side. She grabbed me and dragged me onto my feet.   
  
"This is what you get for trying to interfere with my plans," she snarled. I felt another rush of pain before falling unconscious again. The last thing I saw was Alexia's smiling face.   
  
I groggily woke up and felt cold metal against my skin. I was propped up in a chair, the same chair that I had seen at the end of the corridor. I went to get up and began to realize that I was fastened in. There was a large metal strap that fastened my arms to my sides and that there was another strap that bound my legs together. There was an axe pinning me in, as if someone was being extra careful that I wouldn't escape. Yay.   
  
"Oh, are you awake already?" a cheerful voice asked. I groaned. Alexia was still here.   
  
"Wh...what did you do to me?" I asked. I noticed she was holding a syringe in her hand.   
  
"Oh, nothing yet, my dear," she purred. I fought against the restraints, but it was useless. I couldn't loosen them. I kept my eye on the syringe. There was some strange-colored liquid in it. She gently touched the tip of the needle and looked at me.  
  
"What are you going to do with me, then?" I finally asked. I was afraid of the answer. Whatever she was going to do, it wouldn't be good.   
  
"What am I going to do with you? I'm going to give you a better, more powerful form. You should be honored, this is the same experiment I had performed on my father years ago. I gave him the T-Veronica virus and now I'll give it to you," she said. My eyes widened. She experimented on her father? And now she was going to turn me into one of her experiments.  
  
"Do not be afraid, you should be happy. I'm doing you a favor, you don't have the spend the rest of your life as a weak, pathetic human," she told me.   
  
"I'd rather be a weak, pathetic human than a heartless monster!" I spat. She came closer to me and ran her finger down my cheek. I flinched away.  
  
"Well, we'll see..." she said softly. She then stabbed the syringe into my arm and injected me with the T-Veronica virus. I screamed as the virus took effect. My chest felt like it was going to explode and I felt like I was choking. Everything hurt so badly for what seemed like hours. Soon the pain stopped and I slumped forward, breathing hard. I felt sick afterwards, like I did when I had the flu when I was little.   
  
"I see it's working. I'll leave you for a little while," Alexia said. She left, but I couldn't lift my head to watch her leave. I had fought so hard to rid myself of the T-Virus, and now I was going to turn into a monster anyway. I had failed Claire, and myself. I didn't dwell on it much, for as sickness took over, I began falling in and out of conscious. I kept having strange dreams. Sometimes I'd be sitting at home with mom and dad, other times I'd be lying on the beach with Claire sitting on the beach saying how nice it was to finally be free. I must have been dreaming for a while, because I heard the gate being raised and footsteps coming toward me.  
  
'Alexia,' I thought groggily. What did she want me with me now? Did she want to taunt me some more?   
  
"Steve? Is that you?" It was Claire! I forced myself to look up, feeling very sick as I did.   
  
"Claire?" I asked weakly. Claire was okay. I was glad. She ran over and pressed a button on the side of the wall. The straps around me came off. The only thing that kept me from falling onto the floor was the giant axe in the wall.   
  
"Hold on, I'll get this off you," she said. Claire grabbed the axe and began pulling with all her strength. She kept trying until she realized it was too heavy for her to pull out.  
  
"No! I can't do it! Who did this to you?!" she demanded. My body began to hurt again, but I forced myself to ignore it.   
  
"That crazy woman told me she was going to perform some experiments on me like she did her father," I jerked from the pain, "she completely insane!"   
  
"Steve? Are you alright?" Claire asked. She placed her hands on my shoulders. I screamed in pain and she jumped back in surprise. I felt like I was going to vomit, and the pain was far worse than before. Sweat dripped down my forehead.   
  
"What's wrong?!" Claire asked. I gave her a desperate look. It felt like my lungs were closing up.  
  
"Ahh...C-claire...help me! I...I can't...breathe..." I managed to choke out. I felt my bones cracking. My vision was blurry, but I could still make out Claire's panicked look.   
  
"Help me! Claaaire!" I screamed. Everything went black and I felt my entire body beginning to reshape itself. Bones cracked and blood was dripping everywhere. My body was being made into a monster. I couldn't feel anything for a while. My memories were slipping away...  
  
Help me, Claire...  
  
When I was able to see, all I saw was red. Everything was a nice red color. I liked it. My body felt weird, but it was okay. It was powerful. The strange thing was that I couldn't remember anything. I saw a young human girl staring at me fearfully. Tears had formed in her eyes and she was screaming things at me. I didn't understand her. Her screaming was hurting my head. I didn't want her here, I hated her for being here.   
  
'KILL! KILL HER!' my mind screamed. I wanted to see her bleed. I want to see her die on the floor covered in blood. The only thing keeping me from her was the axe embedded into the wall. I grabbed it and charged after her. She fled towards the closing gate. I swung the axe at her and she leaped away from it. The axe knocked into some statues, shattering them. I growled in rage and swung again, but my prey was too fast. She dove under the gate and it shut. She had escaped for now.   
  
I smashed the axe into the gate over and over. I hated it for being there. It was keeping me from the girl. My urge for blood and death was too strong to let her get away alive. A tentacle suddenly broke through the wall in the room the girl was in. It knocked her back and before she could get up, it wrapped around her. It lifted her off the ground as she struggled to free herself. The tentacle was giving the girl to me. Overjoyed, I finally broke through the gate and started towards my prey. I lifted my axe and prepared the final blow. I looked at her before I struck her. She looked so familiar. There were faint images and voices flowing through my mind.  
  
"Hey! Look what I found...err, thanks to you!"  
  
"Be careful, Steve."  
  
"It'll be okay, just rest for now,"  
  
"I'll stay with you until you're strong enough to leave."  
  
"After we're reunited, we'll put a stop to Umbrella."  
  
I shook my head. These memories were so confusing. I roared and brought my axe down on the girl. She had stopped struggling and had leaned her head down, as if she was preparing to die.   
  
"I swear I'll protect you next time, Claire..." my eyes widen. It was Claire. That girl who I wanted to kill so much was her. I remembered now. I had almost killed her. The axe stopped several inches away from her neck. She looked at me with confusion.  
  
"Steve? Steve, do you remember me?," she asked. She cried out as the tentacle tighten its grip. It was going to crush her to death. Rage boiled inside me.   
  
"Claaaairree..." I managed to growl. I sliced through the tentacle to free her. She fell to the ground and the tentacle oozed green liquid, but it wasn't finished yet. The tentacle slammed into me violently and I smashed into the wall. I felt ribs breaking, something pierced through my stomach, and horrible pain followed afterwards. I slid to the floor and I felt my body changing again. I was slowly becoming human again. The T-Veronica virus had lost. However, it had come with a cost. I was dying.   
  
"Steve..." Claire walked up to me. Her voice sounded so quiet and meek. She crouched next to me and laid her hand on the wound on my stomach. Everything was slipping away from me. I gently took her hand and pressed it against my cheek. It was soft and warm.   
  
"You're...warm..." I said. Claire's eyes began to tear. I didn't want to die and leave her like this.   
  
"Steve, c'mon...you've got to hang in there, okay? My brother has come to save us, we're getting out of here!" she said desperately, as if those words would keep me alive until her brother came. I forced myself to smile.   
  
"You're...brother...kept his promise...I'm sorry, I cannot..." it was getting more difficult to speak. My vision was beginning to fade away.  
  
"What...? What are you saying?" she asked. It was far too late to explain. I had one last thing to say. I looked her in the eyes. This is goodbye, Claire Redfield...  
  
"I'm...glad that I met you..." I said, then sighed, "I...I love you...Claire," I managed to get out. As everything began to fade, I knew my time was up. I was so happy that I had been able to say it. My eyes closed.   
  
"Steve...?" Claire said, she pulled me closer to her.  
  
I'm so sorry, Claire...  
  
"Steve!"   
  
Good...bye...  
  
"PLEASE DON'T GO!"   
  
.... 


	14. Epilogue

Claire's POV  
  
We were flying away. Very far away from the island that I had been brought to. Sure, at first it seemed just like the incident at Raccoon City, there were zombies and monsters everywhere you turned, but when I met Steve...  
  
I sniffed. I forced myself not to cry. I didn't want to cry in front of Chris again. I was a Redfield, Redfields were supposed to be tough as steel.   
  
Steve...he was, well, a jerk when I first met him. I can still remember him firing at me, then he acted so cool about it. He acted like it was just a game. He keep getting himself in trouble, but I couldn't say too much about it. I got in a lot of trouble too and Steve had to bail me out. As we were forced to rely on each other, I noticed that he had some serious problems with people. I think I could understand why. Umbrella had stolen away his life and his family. He even had to kill his own father to save me.  
  
It was around that time I realized that he wasn't the over-confident jerk that he tried to appeared to be. He was sweet, kind, and very loyal. Even though he tried not to show it, he was a really good person. We had been through so much together, trying to help and comfort each other and now he was gone...   
  
Rage boiled inside me. He didn't deserve it! He didn't do anything wrong, and that witch Alexia had killed him. She was now dead, along with anyone else left on the island. Chris had killed her while I escaped to the jet, or at least I tried too. Wesker surprised me before I could actually get there. I still remembered him twisting my arms behind my back, saying he would kill me if I tried anything. Then Chris appeared and he dragged me elsewhere to lure my brother to him. I hated it, I hated being so helpless.   
  
Wesker let me go, for reasons I didn't understand. Why didn't he just kill me? Chris told me to escape, and that's when the conversation of the T-Veronica virus and Steve started. Wesker said that there was some T-Veronica virus left in Steve, and that he was taking him away to experiment on him more. I hated Wesker for that. Why couldn't he just leave Steve alone? Hadn't he been through enough? Those cryptic words still haunted me...  
  
"Maybe he'll come back alive again, just as I did, and he'll be able to see your sister again."  
  
The possibilities ran through my mind. Steve might come back? And if he did, would he still be the same? I didn't trust Wesker with Steve, and the thought that Steve would become like Wesker frightened me.   
  
I still remember what Steve said to me as he died in my arms. He told me he loved me. I think I may have loved him back. I cared so much about him. He told me he couldn't keep his promise, but he died before he told me what it was.   
  
'I didn't keep my promise either. I promised we'd both escape together, shouldn't you be more angry at me, Steve?'  
  
The sun shone through the glass of the jet. It was the beginning of a new day. I would help bring down Umbrella, for Steve and everyone else who had suffered because of Umbrella. I looked out the window and watched the clouds drift by, Rockfort was now very far away.  
  
Goodbye, Steve. I'll never forget you.   
  
...I love you too.   
  
Wesker's POV  
  
I touched my scarred face. I silently cursed Chris Redfield. When the time came, I would enjoy killing him and everyone he cares about. He was clever, I had never expected him to drop all those metal bars right on top of me. It had hurt like hell. I guess I should have expected it, Chris Redfield was one of my best men. It was unfortunate that I couldn't kill him then and there.   
  
The submarine rocked gently, but I was more interested on the body that lay on the table. How ironic it was that the worthless, T-Virus infected prisoner I had met earlier would be the last T-Veronica virus carrier. I thought for sure that the virus would have killed him, yet here he was, full of precious T-Veronica virus. Though I was still unsure about the effects the T-Veronica virus had on a dead specimen, I wouldn't be all that surprised if young Mr. Burnside were to awaken. After all, if Alexia could die and be resurrected, then maybe he'd come back alive after all. He would make a more interesting guinea pig if he were living. Maybe I'd send him after Chris and his young sister.   
  
One of the researches timidly approached me and interrupted my thoughts.   
  
"S-sir, we're ready to extract the T-Veronica virus from the body," he stuttered. I nodded.  
  
"Good, hurry up. I want the virus as soon as possible," I said. He quickly scurried off. I sighed, it was time to get to work. I glanced at the body one last time.  
  
'Maybe this isn't the end for you, Mr. Burnside, maybe it's only the beginning.'  
  
The End.   
Author's Note: It's done! This may be my biggest accomplishment in writing ^_^ Sorry, this chapter wasn't as spectacular as I imagined it would be, and it was short, but it got the general idea across about what was going on inside Wesker's and Claire's heads. I'm really glad you've stuck with me through the story, it's really what keep it going. Really, really big thanks too:  
Claire Burnside267 (I was sad about the Steve ending too T_T *sniff*)  
GuinevereKoopa (You always review my stuff, Guin. Even if its crap =D)  
fOrevR LOsT aZn SoUL  
Pyromaniac 55  
You guys are so great! ^_^ *Bows* I'll probably write more RE stuff, I've got a few ideas. Maybe I'll even write a sequel to this (a Steve revival fic!) Thanks a bunch! Ciao!  
  
Disclaimer I completely forgot about: I don't own the RE stuff in the story. Capcom does. Don't sue or I'll be sad. 


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